10/12/2016

Apologies for the silence since Friday evening. Yes we made it through Hurricane Matthew relatively unscathed. All things considered, we were pretty lucky, and are relieved to have gotten through it. Frankly, it was a pretty thrilling experience. I love a good storm, and this was the biggest I’ve ever seen. We don’t regret staying one bit.

We were of the 10% in Savannah that did not lose power during the storm. Considering the multiple blowouts from power poles/lines we witnessed (especially between 4a-5a on Saturday), it is amazing we stayed up. Word from home today is that the power is now out. We had expected that as they are working to repair the lines in our neighborhood for the rest of the 90%.

For me the hardest part now is that we don’t have any internet at home, which means NO communications at all from the house. As we don’t have a landline or cellphones (yep, another 10% minority for us), this has made it hard to keep up with the outside world. I’m back in the office today (and on lunch now), which is how I am reporting this.

I’ve been trying to write down my thoughts and timeline on the storm. If I finish and get to editing it, I’ll try to share. In the event I don’t get around to that, I would be remiss not to mention the one thing that left the biggest impression on me in the aftermath of the storm – COMMUNITY. I am specifically referring to those of us who stayed and rode out the storm together. The spirit of helpfulness and caring that I felt and gave on that Saturday afternoon (before the evacuees started to come back) is something I’ve never experienced before. I wish I could capture with words how amazing it felt. We knew it was short-lived, but it was such a wonderful feeling while it lasted. I think there will now be a bond between us and the neighbors who stayed for as long we all live there. Sorry for the cheeziness of this, but as I said, I’m having a little trouble articulating the feeling.

Thanks again to everyone who checked in on us and sent us well wishes. I’m going to believe all the positive karma you sent our way is what helped knock this storm down to a Cat. 2 and got us through.